The Rot, by Evelyn Araluen, wins 2026 Victorian Prize for Literature

2 March 2026

Naarm/Melbourne based Australian poet Evelyn Araluen has won both the Victorian Prize for Literature, and Prize for Indigenous Writing, in this year’s Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, for her second collection of poetry, The Rot.

Araluen won the Stella Prize, one of Australia’s major literary awards in 2022, for her debut poetry collection, Dropbear. Her win in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards surely puts The Rot in good stead to be awarded the Stella Prize again this year.

That would be quite the accomplishment. We’ll find out soon if the possibility is on the cards, when the longlist for the 2026 Stella is announced next week, on Wednesday 11 March 2026.

Climate change may render Iceland uninhabitable in a century

2 March 2026

Chico Harlan, writing for MSM:

Sometime over the next 100 years, human-driven warming could disrupt a vital ocean current that carries heat northward from the tropics. After this breach, most of the world would keep getting hotter — but northern Europe would cool substantially, with Iceland at the center of a deep freeze. Climate modeling shows Icelandic winter extremes plunging to an unprecedented minus-50 degrees Fahrenheit.

It is possible the scenario will not come to pass, but authorities in the North Atlantic Ocean nation are taking no chances, having deemed the prospect a national security risk.

How anyone can claim climate change is a hoax, or non-existent, when it had the potential to result in an entire country literally freezing over is beyond me.

AI to micromanage fast food restaurant workers

1 March 2026

Emma Roth, writing for The Verge:

Burger King is launching an AI chatbot that will live in the headsets used by employees. The voice-enabled chatbot, called “Patty,” is part of an overarching BK Assistant platform that will not only assist employees with meal preparation but also evaluate their interactions with customers for “friendliness.”

Before the AI powered robots are able to take the place of people working in front line roles in restaurants — the day cannot be too far off — they are going to tell workers how to do their job.

AI powered traffic cameras enforce road laws with an iron fist

1 March 2026

Emma Wynne, writing for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC):

When Perth mother Lisa Taylor’s 11-year-old daughter slipped one arm out of her seatbelt, the family had been on the road for over two hours, returning from a holiday in Dunsborough over the Christmas period. The transgression was picked up by one of WA‘s new AI safety cameras, which detect people not wearing or incorrectly wearing seatbelts and using mobile phones.

Police in the Australian state of Western Australia (WA) issued thirty-one thousand infringement notices to drivers in the month commencing early October 2025.

AI technology installed in road cameras were intended to target drivers handling phones, and improper seatbelt usage, but appear to have a keen eye, having detected numerous traffic violations.

I’m not aware of the use of AI equipped road safely cameras in other Australian states, though they may be present, but the WA initiative is looking like the future of traffic law enforcement to me.

Toxic people, or hasslers, reduce life expectancy of those around them

1 March 2026

People unfortunate enough to have one, or more, toxic people in their lives, are more likely to experience accelerated biological ageing, according to research published by PNAS.

This is, no doubt, something anyone subjected to the malevolence of a toxic person could have told you, even though biological age is not readily discernible.

Biological age refers to the condition of your body, including organs and cells, and can differ from chronological age, being actual age. If you happen to be forty-two years old as you read this, that is your chronological age. Depending on a plethora of factors though, your biological age may be higher, or lower, than your chronological age.

With their ability to run down the people around them, hasslers, as the PNAS research refers to them, have a negative impact on the health of others, through their spite and subterfuge.

I imagine this cuts both ways though. A hassler, or toxic person, by sheer virtue of their nature, quite possibly has a biological age exceeding their chronological. Such people need to carry government health warnings so the rest of us can stay away from them.

The research published by PNAS makes a distinction between so-called hasslers and toxic people. I’m of the opinion they’re one in the same, particularity if they are detrimental to the health of others.

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A day in the life of a world without an internet

1 March 2026

Libraries, letters, street magazines, and face-to-face social networking.

This is how I saw a world without the internet sixteen years ago.

Most very serious.

New AI tool intends to streamline using WordPress.com blogs

25 February 2026

The new tool will look after some aspects of the design and maintenance of a WordPress.com blog.

As I understand it, the AI assistant will not write content, though it can “edit and refine” posts if asked. The assistant however can create custom images upon prompt. Anything you like — within reason — by the sounds of things.

Many of the bloggers I read dislike using AI in their actual writing, but may make limited use of the technology for research, or, say, for editing their work. I don’t do that myself (though maybe I should for editing, fixing typos, etc.), but think that’s a choice for the individual to make.

I see an upside to the new WordPress.com feature though. An AI assistant might encourage a few more people to take up blogging, given it takes care of what is considered by some to be the more technical parts of the process.

Editing the appearance of a theme, for example, which some people probably find daunting. The assistant won’t quite put WordPress.com blogs on an equal footing with social media platforms, in terms of ease of use, but it might be seen as step in the right direction.

So long as the AI assistant limits its activities to design and maintenance functions, and does not expand into composing posts, all should be well…

Problematic Instagram use: redefining the nature of addiction

19 February 2026

Kali Hays, Regan Morris, and Peter Bowes, writing for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC):

The head of Instagram has defended his platform against claims it caused mental health damage to minors, arguing in a California court that even seemingly excessive use of social media does not equal an addiction.

Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram (IG), made the remark during a court hearing in Los Angeles, in the United States. Plaintiffs allege IG, along with other social networks, including YouTube, are little more than “addition machines”.

One young woman, who was a minor at the time, claimed she once spent sixteen hours in a day, looking at IG.

I’m not sure how anyone can brush that sort of usage off as “problematic”. Four to five hours maybe, but not sixteen. How can that be anything other than an addiction?

In regards to IG, the problem has become worse in recent years with the proliferation of usually low quality (content wise) video clips, and numerous posts making dubious, though intriguing claims.

It’s easy to get carried sometimes, and waste more time than intended scrolling through some of the stuff (I hesitate to say content) on the explore tab.

Last year I signed up to Foto, a simple photo-sharing app, that IG used to be like, sans the filters, many years ago now. I check in on Foto once a day, and am unlikely to spend no more than a few minutes there. I have a quick look at the latest posts, and that’s it.

There’s no doomscrolling the app for hours on end.

I suspect though that sort of usage is precisely what the large social networks consider to be problematic. Of course then there is no such thing as social media addiction, when visits of several hours, not minutes, are the norm on some platforms.

Vision loss in some people is being attributed to their tattoos

19 February 2026

Jacinta Bowler writing for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC):

The condition, known as tattoo-associated uveitis, can lead to permanent vision loss, glaucoma, and patients requiring immunosuppressants for the rest of their life.

While rare, the condition can set in several years after getting a tattoo. In one case, decades had passed before the person began experiencing vision loss.

Most people seeking tattoos doubtless know about the risk of infection, or allergic reactions, but few would expect their vision to be impacted, particularly years after the event.

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Meanjin magazine given reprieve by Queensland University of Technology

14 February 2026

The Australian literary journal closed late last year after then publisher, Melbourne University Press (MUP), said the long running publication was no longer financially viable.

Earlier this week, the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) said it had taken ownership of the magazine, and quarterly publication will resume.

There will no doubt be rejoicing in Australian literary circles at the news. MUP’s decision to close the magazine, which was launched in 1940, was roundly criticised at the time.

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